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Name and origin March of 2006. The Mexica Movement was one of the groups participating.]] The Mexica Movement was founded in the mid-1990s by the poet and writer Olin Tezcatlipoca . The group's name is derived from the Nahuatl word ''Mexica'' (Meh-SHEEH-kah), the name the Aztec s used for themselves. The group has a collective leadership structure, with a few members forming the core of the group's ''intelligentsia'' in Los Angeles. They assert that Mexicans, Central Americans, Native Americans, and Canadian First Nations are all one people of shared bloodlines, history, and colonial oppression under European-descent occupiers on the North American continent. They reject all European-imposed borders as being false borders. They refer to the continent by its Nahuatl -language name, "Anahuac." They promote the reassessment of White ancestry among Mexican American s, Mexicans , and Central America ns within a framework of "forced DNA rape" resulting from European colonization beginning in 1492 with Columbus. They advocate the reconstitution and "re-indigenization" of peoples of Mexican and Central American descent. The group states that Europeans have engaged in a 500 year-long campaign to "de-Indianize" all Indigenous people of the continent. The organization claims that holding onto a non-indigenous identity enslaves Mexican Americans and other Latin America ns to European descendents who currently control the Western Hemisphere. They therefore diavow the labels " Hispanic " and " Latino ," arguing that they unjustly emphasize the European aspect the racial heritage of the Indigenous and Mestizo people of North America . They disavow the name " La Raza " as a glorification of ''mestizaje'', which they claim came about only as the result of Rape . They reject "Mexican-American" as a mark of assimilation and even the pride-filled label of " Chicano " on the grounds that its development was based on an incomplete knowledge of history and language, and that the aims of the Chicano Movement were too narrow. " American Indian " and " Native American " were inaccurate terms coined by Europeans. Instead, they favor the term "Nican Tlaca". ''Nican tlaca'' is the plural of the Nahuatl ''Nican tlacatl'', literally meaning "here-person" in the sense of "local person". It was originally used in the 15th Century in documents written in Classical Nahuatl , often as a translation of the Spanish word " Indio ", or "Indian". The use of the word faded, however, and by the 16th Century , the word "''macehualtin''", the plural of "''macehualli''", meaning "person" or "commoner" had all but completely replaced it. Issues Land ownership The Mexica Movement asserts that the entire Continent of North America belongs collectively to Indigenous People ( Mexicans , Central Americans , Native Americans , and Canadian First Nations ); and that European-descent people are in fact illegal aliens who have been trespassing on Indigenous lands for over 500 years. Identity Central to their message is the rejection of the terms Hispanic and Latino as labels for people of Mexican, Central American descent. The movement asserts that these terms are Eurocentric and "kill Indigenous identity." As such, they assert, these labels are an extension of a 500 year-long Genocide and Ethnocide against Indigenous people and their identity. The group asserts that only labels which emphasize Indigenous ancestry are appropriate, such as the name Nican Tlaca . The organization asserts that both mixed-bloods and full-bloods are Indigenous People, with European blood merely being a "colonial scar." Language The Movement advocates the use of Nahuatl and rejects the English and Spanish languages save as a means to educate the public and to attract new members. They recommend that their members adopt Nahuatl names and also the Nahuatl term " Anahuac " to refer to North America. Immigration The Mexica Movement claims there is no illegal immigration from Mexico because the American continents actually belong to the indigenous people. The organization has protested H.R. 4437 which calls for stricter immigration policies on America's southern border with Mexico. They accuse Sensenbrenner and the supporters of the bill of being Racists and Nazi -like in their behavior. They deride the "border security" " groups are racists, themselves being the descendents of illegal immigrant-occupiers. The organization claims Asian American s who support the SOS Minutemen do it to gain support from White Americans to become "real Americans" {Link without Title} and ingratiate themselves into the good graces of European-descent Americans. The group adamantly rejects the notion that European-descent people possess the legitimate authority to define Mexicans and Central Americans as non-Indigenous people (mixed-blood and full-blood) on "North America." The example they often cite is that the Aborigines of Australia are never considered "illegals" on any part of the Australian continent, "no matter where they may migrate to, from Perth to Sydney. The same goes for us on our continent." Another parallel the organization uses is that Native Americans from Seattle , Washington can travel to Miami , Florida and never be considered " Illegal Aliens ," even though their particular tribal ethnicity is not rooted near the area of Florida. Media The Mexica Movement insists that people with at least partial indigenous ancestry should play indigenous people in movies (given Hollywood's track record of emplying non-Mexicans to portray Mexicans on film.) The organization has rallied to stop actors of all White/European background from playing indigenous Mexican leaders like Emiliano Zapata and was successful in derailing Disney's $20 million movie production for the never-released film, "Zapata" (starring Antonio Banderas of Spain). Criticism For their outspoken stance on reframing illegal immigration in terms of European-descent people, they have caught the attention of conservative publications such as the '' Conservative Voice '' and WorldNetDaily , both of which have done critical articles on the organization. Many media outlets across the nation have also covered their activities both on television and in print. Partially as a result of this attention, they have disavowed affiliation the Mexican American organizations MEChA , the Brown Berets and National Council Of La Raza . External Links |